A New Spin on Things: Watches With Unique Time Presentations
When you think of a watch, there is a very high likelihood that you are thinking of one with a minute and a hour hand circling around from the middle of the dial. And this description would be accurate for 99% of watches out there. Throughout this blog, we will be discussing watches that deviate from the norm and show their time in interesting ways. From regulators to discs to ones that are truly “crazy”, Feldmar’s got all the bases covered!
Regulator Watches
Our first spin on the normal time display is featured in the Alpina Alpiner Extreme Regulator Automatic. This watch features a regulator dial layout. Watches with “regulator” displays split the hours, minutes and seconds into separate sub dials, creating an extremely visible dial that is uncrowded by stacked hands. The regulator complication, as the name suggests, was originally created to assist in the regulating and accurate setting of clocks and watches. By having the hands split up, the visibility of the precise time is better. This Alpiner Extreme Regulator Automatic is featured in a sporty stainless steel case with a triangular gray dial and sunburst blue subdials. The asymmetric dial layout of the Alpina makes it stand out on the wrist and makes it an amazing conversation starter.
Single Hand, Mono Hand, or One Hand Watches
In a modern watch, the minute and hour hand derive their power from a singular gear train which then uses minute and hour wheels with differing gear ratios to split the time and make the minute hand move faster than the hour hand. In the 18th century, creating clocks with different gear ratios to display minutes and hours was too complicated, therefore, clocks were built having one hand. This hand rotated the dial in 12 hours just as in a traditional clock but with the absence of a minute hand. Watches like many of those from Meistersinger carry on this tradition! This watch features a central hour hand that circles the dial in 12 hours. In order to read the time, one must deduce how far between hours the hand is. At a glance, it’s not the most precise but often having a rough estimate of the time is good enough.
Rotating Disc Watches
The next watch we will examine is a little bit crazy. Don’t take my word for it, the brand themselves have named this watch Une Folle Journée, meaning “A Crazy Day” in French. It comes from French independent brand, Trilobe, which has made its name with their unconventional time displays. Founded in 2018, Trilobe initially saw success with their Nuit-Fantastique watches. But, in 2022, the brand outdid themselves with their Une Folle Journée which features asymmetric floating rings to tell the time. Hours can be read at the bottom of the outermost disc while the helpful red triangle points to the minutes. The inner ring gives an indication of seconds. In the image above, the time is nearly 6 o’clock. This masterpiece of watch engineering shows exceptional depth beneath the aggressively domed sapphire crystal. Featured in grade 5 titanium or 18k rose gold, the Une Folle Journée is stunning at all angles. The amount of originality, creativity, and horological know-how that has gone into the Une Folle Journée makes the price of $22,900 in titanium and $39,500 in rose gold look like the steal of a lifetime. This watch is sure to turn heads anywhere it goes and stands out on the wrist like nothing else.
ROCS: Ressence Orbital Convex System
Looking at this watch, you may be thinking that it’ a digital watch–but you could not be more wrong. In fact, this Ressence Type 3B is a fully mechanical timepiece! To create the flat looking dial, the Type 3B’s upper half is filled with a liquid oil with the same refraction rating as the sapphire crystal on top. So, when you look at the dial, it is perfectly visible and unobstructed. Like regulator type watches seen above, Ressence watches rely on discrete subdials to indicate hours, minutes, and seconds but the Type 3 goes one step further, adding a date disc on the outermost edge, a 7-day indicator, and even a temperate gauge for the oil inside the case. Not only this, but as the day progresses, the entire dial of the Type 3B rotates. Every 60 minutes, the subdials rotate around the center of the dial like magic. All this is possible thanks to the ROCS mechanism (Ressence Orbital Convex System). Essentially, the watch is split into two halves with the upper half using a system of discs to display time information and the mechanical movement connected via magnets in the watch’s bottom half. Usually, magnets are the sworn enemy of watches, interfering with the movement’s timekeeping, but Ressence has boldly used magnets in the Type 3B to separate the oil from the movement and keep the watch running as intended.
Jump Hour Watches
This next watch – the Chronoswiss Delphis – features two rarely seen time displays that are sure to stun. If you can look past the immersive blue guilloche dial, you will notice the big dial opening at the top of the dial, and a minute track that only spans half the dial’s circumference. That number at the top is actually a jump hour and the minute hand is in fact a retrograde. This means that every hour, on the hour, the hour (as the name suggests) jumps to the next hour. At the same time, the minute hand goes flying back to the “0”position from the “60” in a beautiful arc. Chronoswiss has been producing these beautiful complications with masterful guilloche since the early 1980s. This Delphis Horizon Sapphire compliments any environment, yet stands out just enough to collectors who know. Chronoswiss’s bold styling and colors ensure that any horological enthusiast can and will appreciate the complication and beauty of the Delphis Horizon Sapphire. This watch is featured in Grade 5 Titanium and is listed for $16,700.
Crazy Hours
Last but certainly not least, we have a watch that is the epitome of special time displays. At first glance, this Franck Muller looks pretty normal. But, look closer and you’ll notice the confusing the placement of all the hour numerals. This is Franck Muller’s famous Crazy Hours compilation. With the hours scattered around the dial, every sixty minutes, the hand jumps to the correct hour. This complication was first conceived in 2003 and has since been featured in dozens of the brand’s watches. Wearing this watch, you will need to relearn your time telling skills. The conventional dial layout mixed with the Crazy Hours complication creates a learning curve that needs to be conquered by the wearer. But, to real collectors, they know that there is something special about this complication.
As watch collectors, we like to examine things that you don’t see everyday. All of the watches featured here definitely fit the bill. Whether you like the simplicity of the Meistersinger or chaos of the Crazy Hours, you need never go down the most conventional path. Watches at the end of the day are here to help us express our personality and sometimes we want something that strays from convention and walks the path less trodden. Unconventional watches help us get out of our daily flow and experience what the world has to offer even if it’s just for the few seconds a day when you check the time.
About The Author: Spencer Rodman
